Saturday, September 5, 2009

Luck o' the Irish

Starting pitcher:
M.C. O'Connor

7+ 4 2 2 2 5Game Score 64

Matty O'Cain brought his big heat and his VSC to Milwaukee today and gave us 21 outs and got charged with only two runs--the same combo that The Franchise delivered on Thursday--but this time the G-men prevailed, getting three runs for themselves instead of only one. Eamon O'Velez was the hero today, waving a mighty shilelagh and wielding a wizardly glove at second base. Matty owes you a corned beef sandwich and a pint o'Guinness, lad. Sean O'Ribe delivered another massive bomb--this guy is Willie Mac Award material.

Luck prevailed against a pesky Crew, along with grit, fortitude, and a heaping dose of gnarliness. That, and a sensational outing by closer Brian Wilson. He has certainly filled the role this season. Big Sugar finally gets win no. 13, which ties his career high. The bad luck was banished! The long stretch of no-decisions was certainly getting old, and mix in a couple of rocky starts in August and you wonder if The Tennessee Stud is wearing down. But he brushed aside those concerns--if they were there at all--with another excellent start. The first run he allowed would have been a flyout on a normal day. Winn lost it in the sun, and didn't go back far enough to catch it. It should have been an out, but I'll cut Randy some slack because of the tough afternoon shadows. I was impressed that Ol' Boch let Matty pitch the 8th, even though that didn't work out so well. He had a real shot a giving us another three outs, which was worth taking at that point.

The two starts by our two studly right-handers really tell the story of the season: losing 2-1 and winning 3-2. The margins are soooo close with this team, any small break or bit o'luck can decide the contest. Nonetheless, we march on, still in the hunt. When do we get to see Buster?

5 comments:

Nice post, but you KNOW your "luck" premise is always going to feel like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. Matt didn't get lucky, he didn't give up a HOMERUN. Tim did. Of course, you are going to say the difference between a deep fly ball and a HR is a matter of luck yada yada...and you are , of course, WRONG. So, there is no reason to go over that ol' chestnut again.

Velez continues to generate excitement. There is no doubt he, and Uribe, are a big reason we can sometimes feel good about our offense...a little bit...rarely....and for only a brief moment.

Wilson does seem to be settling in. I like to see 20-25 save streaks. Anyone know how many he has in a row?

" . . . grit, fortitude, and a heaping dose of gnarliness . . . " doesn't do it for ya? I think I'm giving the bhoyos credit where credit is due. But one must embrace random chance, grasshopper, it is where wisdom lies.

Who's Irish besides you?"Luck" is an aspect of mankind's endless need for magical thinking. Anything awesome or highly coincidental is perceived as supernatural. It's fun and I endorse it. Except when it leads to genocide, etc.That being said, I intend to claim full credit for Matt's win #13 because of the snarky blog I wrote after his last game. Not because he pitched well, or Velez made some good plays, or because of some friggin leprecaun. Because of a snarky blog. Magic.Also, Pablo's having a cold spell because he's obviously getting one his ritualss wrong. Perhaps the stride on his crow-hop is too short or he's tapping his helmet with his bat too softly. Rationalists would say he needs to work in the batting cage with Lansford. I say he needs to review tape of The Panda Dance to see what he's doing wrong.

Hey, I thought it was MY snarky comments that were responsible!! Actually, it was spooky the other day when I started the audio of the game it was the exact second Bengie hit a HR - that was CLEARLY due to me. Such power....